The fake populism of Jason Kenney - 2019-11-12
The fake populism of Jason Kenney November 12, 2019,
In electing Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party (UCP), the people of Alberta have given themselves something else: a fake populist government. Instead of imitating Aberhart and taking on 50 big shots, the UCP is working on behalf of "the fossil-power top 50," the powerful oil and gas interests identified by the Corporate Mapping Project, that wield great influence in Edmonton and Ottawa.
While the rate of corporate profit has fallen since the oil price plunge of 2014, the mass of corporate profits of the five largest corporations in the oil sands -- Suncor, CNRL, Cenovus, Imperial, and Husky -- which together produce 80 per cent of Canada's bitumen, remains huge.
According to a 2018 Corporate Mapping Project study, "The aggregate gross profits of the big five in 2017 were $46.6 billion, which was close to the Alberta government's revenues of $47.3 billion."